BOW DOWN BEFORE UNTANNED DONALD TRUMP, GOD OF MAYONNAISE AND MOTION SICKNESS (via BuzzFeedELSEWHERE IN THE SOUTH - [Mississippi Goddamn comment here] Letitia Stein: "Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant on Tuesday signed into law a measure affording wide protections for actions considered discriminatory by gay rights activists. The far-reaching law allows people with religious objections to deny wedding services to same-sex couples. It also clears the way for employers to cite religion in determining workplace policies on dress code, grooming and bathroom and locker access. Bryant, a Republican, said in a statement that he signed the law 'to protect sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions of individuals, organizations and private associations from discriminatory action by state government.' His decision comes amid national protests over a new law barring transgender people in North Carolina from choosing bathrooms consistent with their gender identity. Meanwhile, the governors of Georgia and Virginia vetoed similar “religious liberty” bills last week." [HuffPost] D.C. Council members voted to ban public pot smoking.DELANEY DOWNER - In the wake of the Flint water crisis, local governments nationwide have had to assure residents worried about brain damage and miscarriages that their drinking water meets or exceeds all federal standards. Philadelphia officials tried to quell concerns about lead poisoning after activists, in a series of news stories and a public hearing, questioned the city’s strategy for protecting the water. “The Philadelphia Water Department is in compliance with the federal Lead and Copper Rule,” John Quigley, director of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, said in an interview. “Period. Full stop.” Another city in compliance with the Lead and Copper Rule, the nation’s core regulation for lead in water: Flint, Michigan. Complying with federal water regulation, it turns out, doesn’t necessarily mean a city’s water is lead-free. All it means is that the amount of lead coming through faucets is beneath an arbitrary level. The rule essentially says that using lead pipes for drinking water is fine, even though childhood exposure to lead can cause permanently diminished intelligence and behavioral problems — serious ones. Widespread poisoning from leaded gasoline has emerged as a plausible explanation for rising and falling crime rates in the second half of the 20th century. [w/ HuffPost's Tyler Tynes and Robert Baldwin III] Like HuffPost Hill? Then pre-order Eliot's book's, The Beltway Bible: A Totally Serious A-Z Guide To Our No-Good, Corrupt, Incompetent, Terrible, Depressing, and Sometimes Hilarious Government.Does somebody keep forwarding you this newsletter? Get your own copy. It's free! Sign up here. Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to huffposthill@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter - @HuffPostHillNO-NECKED GUYS NAMED PERCY FOR TRUMP - Ken Vogel and Brianna Gurciullo: "A POLITICO investigation revealed that Trump has assembled a privately funded security and intelligence force with a far wider reach than other campaigns’ private security operations: tracking and rooting out protesters, patrolling campaign events and supplementing the Secret Service protection of the billionaire real estate showman during his nontraditional campaign for the GOP presidential nomination. The investigation -- which utilized Federal Election Commission reports, state licensing records, court filings and interview accounts or testimony from more than a dozen people who’ve crossed paths with Trump’s security -- found that the tactics of Trump’s team at times inflamed the already high tensions around his divisive campaign, rather than defusing them...The Trump campaign could be forced to publicly justify its security tactics in June when a New York state court is set to evaluate the evidence-collection process in a little-noticed case brought by a handful of protesters who allege they were assaulted by five Trump security officials during a raucous protest outside the campaign’s Manhattan headquarters in September. The protesters’ lawyers have asked the Trump campaign to release its contracts for security, its guidelines for use of force, its security team’s personnel records, and complaints against its members ― including for excessive force, assault, battery or 'violation of any federal or state constitutional right.'" [Politico] Politico also reports that Trump's campaign is in disarray.This is not the sort of thing you say until *after* the nomination is over: "Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday that she believes women can be both feminists and pro-life. When asked on 'The View' whether it is possible to be both, the Democratic presidential candidate said 'absolutely' and explained why she doesn't think the two terms are mutually exclusive. 'I respect the opinions and beliefs of every woman,' Clinton said. 'The reason why being pro-choice is the right way to go is because it is a choice, and hopefully a choice that is rooted in the thoughtfulness and the care that women bring to this decision. So of course you can be a feminist and be pro-life.' Clinton, who has long been pro-choice and has called for protecting Roe v. Wade, on Sunday drew criticism from both sides of the abortion debate after she said an 'unborn person' doesn’t have constitutional rights.'" [HuffPost's Sam Levine] Bernie Sanders had a tough interview with the Daily News.SUSAN COLLINS HAS VERY NICE WORDS FOR MERRICK GARLAND - Jen Bendery: "One of the few Republican senators who has agreed to meet with President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee expressed her admiration for appeals court judge Merrick Garland after talking with him Tuesday, and called for her colleagues to sit down with him as well. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) met with the long-serving jurist from the District of Columbia Circuit for more than an hour, and told reporters afterward that it only reinforced her belief that the Senate should do its job by holding hearings on the nominee to the nation’s highest court. Obama nominated Garland after Justice Antonin Scalia’s death in February. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declared almost immediately after Scalia’s death that Obama should not bother with a nominee because Senate Republicans would refuse to hold hearings and a vote, regardless of who it was. Collins disagreed with her colleagues, and offered high praise after actually meeting the well-regarded Garland. 'I found Judge Garland to be well-informed, thoughtful, impressive, extraordinarily bright and with a sensitivity that I look for [regarding the] appropriate roles that the Constitution assigns to the three branches,' she said." [HuffPost] Sadly George Mason has reconsidered the Antonin Scalia School of Law.GRAYSON STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION - Karoun Demirjian: "The House Ethics Committee is extending its review of Rep. Alan Grayson as it probes the Florida Democrat’s management of a hedge fund, with activity in the Cayman islands, at the same time he was a lawmaker. The committee said it would continue “to review the matter… in order to gather additional information necessary to complete its review.” It also published a report from the Office of Congressional Ethics — a nonpartisan, independent body charged with making referrals to the Ethics panel — with several findings and Grayson’s written rebuttals. The panel’s decision to continue the probe increases the likelihood that the hedge fund issue will linger over the spring and summer, almost assuring that it will be a high-profile issue in Grayson’s campaign to become the Democratic nominee for the Senate seat being vacated by erstwhile presidential candidate Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) Grayson’s primary against Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Fla.) is on Aug.30." [WaPo] Shady adviser shadily removed from thing: "MSNBC purposely edited out an interview that Bloomberg's Mark Halperin and John Heilemann held with former Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone on Monday...When asked if MSNBC has also banned Stone from their network and whether they had purposely edited out his interview from the "With All Due Respect" broadcast, an MSNBC spokeswoman said "Yes" but declined to comment further." [Politico's Hadas Gold] BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here's a child talking to turkeys. OH, RAHM - We all know how much Rahm loves his private life publicized. Jordan Sargent "Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel has a long list of enemies. Near the top is the Chicago Teachers Union, with which he’s feuded for his entire tenure as mayor. This past Friday, the union staged a one-day strike, closing schools across the city in order to draw attention to their latest round of negotiations with the city, which wants the teachers to accept cuts to pay, staffing, and budgets...But the many pressing issues facing the Windy City didn’t stop Emanuel from immediately jetting off to take in the best the Big Apple has to offer: 'Hamilton,' the smash-hit Broadway musical." [Gawker] COMFORT FOOD- The trailer for Steven Spielberg's "BFG."- Guy creates program in ten minutes that the government paid over $300,000 to program. - Basketball fan fails miserably. TWITTERAMA@jbendery: "Congressman Pomp-ee-oh, or however you say his name. Pomp-ee-oh." -- Josh Earnest on Rep. Pompeo@pourmecoffee: Ignore if some guy named Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson is trying to connect with you on LinkedIn.@delrayser: Prime Minister of Iceland to Resign Over Króna Capitalism